Along an assembly line, various types of articles, such as, diapers, may be assembled by adding components to and/or otherwise modifying an advancing, continuous web of material. For example, in some processes, advancing webs of material are combined with other advancing webs of material. In other examples, individual components created from advancing webs of material are combined with advancing webs of material, which in turn, are then combined with other advancing webs of material. In some cases, individual components created from advancing web or webs are combined with other individual components created from other advancing web or webs. Webs of material and component parts used to manufacture diapers may include: backsheets, topsheets, leg cuffs, waist bands, absorbent core components, front and/or back ears, fastening components, and various types of elastic webs and components such as leg elastics, barrier leg cuff elastics, stretch side panels, and waist elastics. Once the desired component parts are assembled, the advancing webs and component parts are subjected to a final knife cut to separate the webs into discrete diapers or other absorbent articles.
After the final knife cut, absorbent articles may undergo a folding process to bring front and rear waist regions together. In some processes, the folded absorbent articles may be rotated prior to packaging. For example, in some processes, the folded absorbent article may advance in a sideways orientation and may be rotated about 90 degrees to a desired orientation for packaging. Some processes for rotating a folded absorbent article 10 may hold the front waist region 12 of the absorbent article 10 while the rear waist region 14 is unrestricted from movement, such as shown in FIG. 1. Other processes may hold the rear waist region 14 of the folded absorbent article 10, while the front waist region 12 is unrestricted from movement. The process of rotating the folded absorbent article 10 may subject the folded absorbent article 10 to centrifugal and/or gravitational forces. As a result, the unrestricted rear waist region 14 of the folded absorbent article 10 may be pulled away from the front waist region 12. Consequently, an absorbent article 10 that is not fully folded, such as instances where the front waist region 12 is not contacting the rear waist region 14, may get stuck in downstream processing and/or may cause the folded absorbent articles 10 to be improperly packaged. In some processes, conveyors or belts may be used to control the movement of the unrestricted waist region. However, friction between the belt or conveyor and the absorbent article 10 may impede the advancement of the folded absorbent article 10. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a process and apparatus for guiding a folded absorbent article without also impeding the advancement of the folded absorbent article.
In some processes, opposing side seams of a folded absorbent article may be tucked into the chassis of the absorbent article prior to packaging. Some processes for tucking side seams may utilize vacuum conveyor belts to hold the front and rear waist regions of the folded absorbent article apart from each other as side seam tuckers tuck the side seams into the chassis. However, subjecting the folded absorbent article to multiple, discrete processing steps prior to packaging, such as rotating and reorienting the absorbent article and then subsequently tucking the side seams, adds cost and complexity to the manufacturing process. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a single process and apparatus for rotating and tucking side seams of a folded absorbent article.